'Gender is a protected characteristic.' Who came up with that claim?

[deepwatersolo]

I have repeatedly heard people on social media, including on MN, assert that gender is a protected characteristic, and from what I gather even some institutions have asserted this and fashioned their policies around it, binning sex as a protected characteristic (which it legally is) in the process.

Where did this misrepresentation of the law originate and how could it spread so far and wide - and so fast?

That might be a reasonable thing to ask Full Fact if you're on Twitter or know someone who would tweet them.

That or an email.

They're pretty good at uncovering the source of 'zombie facts' and statistics.

Ah, ok, I will try that. Thank you!

Oh, here the link to the EA protected characteristics.

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/part/2/chapter/1

Agreed - I have just checked my DD’s school and they have gender not sex. Has anyone challenged this with their school?

Any tips on best ways to approach?

It seems that Ruth Hunt of Stonewall was misrepresenting the law recently on Radio 4 twitter.com/JonnnyBest/status/1048286530970836993

It's because there are lies, damned lies and then there's gender-babble.

I've just posted on the feminist governor thread about this from a governors stance. All of the schools in the MAT (multi academy trust) that my DDs school belong to have incorrect characteristics in their equalities policies......the most suitable one I found listed 7 correct characteristics (missing two of them off) but then used gender instead of sex throughout the document.

It's very frustrating.

Numerous Councils have been incorrectly citing gender as a protected characteristic in the equality documents, and omitting sex.

In fact liking at that page, there's no such word as transgender.

Looking

I have recently resigned from the Civil Service and sent a leavers form to complete by HR. It did not ask me my sex but did ask me what gender I identified as. Feeling freed up to express an opinion by my departure, I declined to answer the question with one of the options but instead gave a narrative response I explained that my sex is female, and that I do not "identify" as a particular gender as gender is a social construct which I do not accept. I also made a point about protected characteristics and the Equality Act 2010.

It felt quite liberating to make the point even though I imagine the effect will be minimal.

I think all of this confusion is a good reason to get Full Fact involved. They have an excellent record of getting things corrected.

Full Fact's overarching remit is to tackle misinformation in an open society and to promote the use of verifiable facts, with context, in public discussions.

fullfact.org

I'm getting increasingly brave with this. I discovered yesterday that on our personal information at work, it's gender. It should be sex, right? How would I challenge it? I'm virtually at the bottom of the food chain in an fe college.

I'm not sure I trust fullfact on this either...they weren't full fact on the employment figures.

We can see the protected characteristics ourselves in the Equality Act.

The following characteristics are protected characteristics—
age;
disability;
gender reassignment;
marriage and civil partnership;
pregnancy and maternity;
race;
religion or belief;
sex;
sexual orientation.

I'm not sure I trust fullfact on this either...they weren't full fact on the employment figures.

I don't know if you're referring to a specific instance but, in general, they have a better record than any other comparable organisation.